03/10/10 – Back to the Future? A Look Back at Colorado Views on Health Care
by Scott DownesSenior Project Director
Back when Bon Jovi was Livin' on a Prayer, Ronald Reagan was handing over the White House keys to the first George Bush and Rain Man was reigning supreme at the box office, The Colorado Trust was conducting a public opinion poll* of Colorado adults about their views of the state's health care system. Twenty-two years later, this January, we did another public opinion poll** using many of the same questions in order to learn how attitudes about health care have evolved over the past two decades.
Last week, you read about initial findings from our most recent poll. In this post, we will compare and contrast some of what we found this year with the 1988 findings.
Many of the views that Coloradans have about health care remain largely unchanged. In both the 1988 and 2010 polls, there is a similar level of general satisfaction with how far people have to travel to see a doctor, the attitude of doctors and medical staff, the quality of in-hospital care, the ability to see a doctor whenever needed and the quality of doctors.
The levels of satisfaction are consistent with what we know of health care, in general: if you are insured and relatively healthy, you are likely satisfied with your health care. If not, and you need to access the health care system more frequently, you're more likely to be unsatisfied.
In 1988, 85% of poll respondents rated their own health as excellent or good, falling to 78% in 2010. Likewise, while only 14% rated their health as poor or fair in 1988, this year 22% – almost one in four respondents – said they were in fair or poor health. Although the shift is not drastic, and Colorado remains one of the healthier states in the country, the trend itself is concerning when it comes to the impact on the overall health care system and the correlating growth of out-of-pocket health care expenses.
Surprisingly, despite the fact that health care premiums have grown twice as fast as the average Coloradans' wages, satisfaction with out-of-pocket health care costs only declined 10% since 1988 (64% to 54%). While a number of factors contribute to such views, it remains clear that the rise of health care costs is unsustainable, even if a very slim majority of Coloradans say they are satisfied.
Not so surprisingly, support for government providing basic coverage for all Coloradans has eroded since 1988. Then, three-fourths of poll respondents agreed that government should ensure that everybody has basic health insurance. In 2010, 61% of respondents agreed. Despite the decrease, nearly two-thirds of respondents still believe government should play a role in basic health care for its citizens.
As we addressed in last week's post, there is a lot of partisan division on health care issues, but there is a lot of agreement too. As Colorado faces a future full of health care challenges, we can't just live on a prayer that solutions will come. We have to pull people together, from across the spectrum, to make real, sustainable improvements to our health care system.
*Louis Harris & Associates conducted a statewide public opinion poll from December 1987-April 1988 on behalf of The Colorado Trust. A total of 3,014 adults were polled via phone and 197 interviews were conducted in person. Interviews were distributed proportionally by region and the sample was representative of the population at the time.
**The statewide opinion survey was sponsored by The Colorado Trust and conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates on January 18-24, 2010. The sample was comprised of 550 adults throughout the state, including 100 interviews among those who solely or primarily use cell phones for communication. Interviews were distributed proportionally by county and the sample is representative of the population demographically.
TOP Comments (0)